Improvement in calculating-apparatus



i Qatari (time.

ALONZO- JOHNSON, 0F SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO SYLVES'IER BIS SELL AND ANDREW B. WEST,

OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT.

Letters Patent No. 85,229, dated December 22, 1868.

WROVENIENT IN CALCULATING-APPARATUS.

A The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the lame.

To all whom it may concept:

Be it known that I, ALONZO Jonlvsox, of Springfield, in the county of Hampdcn, and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented a new and improved reference being had to the accompanying drawings,

making a part of this specification, and to the letters and figures of reference marked thereon, in which- Figure 1 is a plan view of said calculatirrg-nrachinc, a portion ofthe dial and of the upper disk being shown as broken away, to display the parts beneath;

Figure 2 is avertical sectional view of the same, the plane of section being indicated by the line 1 y in fig. 1; and

Figure 3 is avertical axial section of the same, the plane of section being indicated by the line as a; in fig. 1.

My invention is designed to ascertain and indicate: within certain defined limits, the sum or amount of numbers which are to be added together, and at the same time to indicate, also, how many such numbers have been added.

In the form shown, said machine is particularly intended as a corurter for lumbcr ya-rds and similar uses,

and can be made to indicate the aggregate number of feet in any lot of lumber as rapidly as the contents of the several boards or pieces are called on or, cnnrnerated, in loading orhandiing it, and will further indicate the exact number of boards or pieces so called off or enumerated. Tire limit of its capacity, as now represented, is to add numbers not greater than-one hundred, to a sum-total not exceeding ten thousand, and, to make up this total, any number of additions, not exceeding nine hundred, can be made.

As applied to reckoning lumber, the feet in nine hundred boards can be added together, and can be correctly expressed on the dial, to the'amount of nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine feet, in figures, while the next, or zero-point, will show a cornplete revolution, or a sum-total of ten thousand feet, and if the sum exceeds the last-named amount, the instrument will proceed to add further, without any adjustment of parts, and the addition will begin again at a unit. In such case the amount finally shown on the dial can be increased by the ten thousand feet already added up.

The limit of one hundred feet for single numbers is selected as a convenient limit, which single boards or pieces of lumber seldom exceed, as to the feet contained in them. 7

It will, however, be evident, from an examination of the construction and operation of said calculatingmachine, that its capacity, both as to the value of the single numbers to be added, the total amount, and the number of additions, can be indefinitely increased by substituting a finer graduation, additional registeringwhcels, or.iike mechanical expedientls', without deviating in the least from the operative principles of the machine hercin'described and represented.

The device for adding the feet is entirely independ- .tions', or the number of boards called of, (whichlast named device I denominate a board-counter,) and the latter may be removed without impairing the operation of the instrument as an adding-machine in any degree.

The construction of my invention is as follows, (the devices for adding the numbers being first described, and their the construction of the board-counter, and the whole instrument as combined:)

The base-plate A of themachine is a circular disk, in the face of which is a circular recess for containing a set of differential gears, and a seat for the revolving dial-plate.

A handle, M,'is attached below the plate, for bold ing the instrument whilcin use, and an axial hub, G, projects from the centre of the circular recess, and forms the arbor, about which the revolving dislci move.

A narrow annular portionof the surface of the baseplate, inside the. rim 1', is level with the surface of the revolving dial B, and is graduated in one hundred divisions, and numbered from 0 to 99 inclusive.

the figures 0 and J9, merely to show the starting-point in operating the machine.

Tire dial B is a fiat plate, -of brass, which fits within the annular portion of the base-plate, so as to form a plane face, over which the index can move with regularity.

the hubof the diiierential gear beneath projects.

-A series of one hundredsmall round openings, h 7:, is arranged in a circle concentric with and near to the edgeof the dial-plate, and piace'd radially within them are the figures of the graduation, from 0 to 99 inclusrvc.

Light radial lines are engraved on the dial, extending from the figures to the edge, so as to assist in bringing the figures on the. dial in the exact line of the corresponding figures on the edge of the base-plate.

A flat steel index, I, turns about the same centre as the dial-plate, and its use is to indicate the number of hundreds added together, which number will be found in the circle of figures on the edge of the baseplate. A

to the bottom of the base-plate by thcscrew ligand has one hundred and one teeth on its periphery.

Another geared wheel, G, of the same diameter, but having only onehundred teeth on its periphery, is placed immediately above G, and is free to revolve about the arbor G, and will carry with it the index I,

out of the device which registers the number of midi-- A pin, S, projects from the annular portion, between A central opening is made in the dial, through which To operate this index, a geared wheel, G, is secured which is ,held' inst the hub .of G by the p'late'E semwedto it. he plate is not to be sole-wed down so tightly as to'prevent the index-from being turned and adjusted without taming the gear, but there must be suflicient friction upon the index, so that it will move with the, gear G.

To complete this set of differential gears, a, small gear-wheel, g,.or traveller, is pivoted to theunder side" of the dial-plate bythe screw 8, and is carried around with the dial as the -latter is turned.- As it also engages with the gears G G, it is evident that it' will also revolve on its own axis when the dial-plate is.

turned; and ss-ihe grant? which has one hnndredand one teeth, is fixed, while the upper'gear, c, which has one tooth loss, is left free to tumult is also evident that when-the dial-plan: makes one complete revolution, the gear G will be moved forward one one-hundredth of a revolution, and will carry with it the index I, so that if the index were set at 0 at the start, it will be moved forward to the figure 1 when the dial-plate has been revolvedonce.

To'revolve the dial-plate, a pointer, P, turns around the arbor 0 as a centre, above the disks of the boardcounter, 1 'A washer,W, with a steadypin projecting into the end of the arbor, to prevent its turning, rests upon the hub of the pointer, and is held down by the thumbnut T, so that the bearing of the pointer can always betighteued and kept true.

A round stud, 1, projects from the under face of the pointer, and its end is fitted to enter the holcsh kin the plate B. I g

A-small 1:,is applied over the stud, so as to operate the pointer by the-thumb and finger.

The outer end of the-pointer is bent down at a right angle, and fallsdirectly over the line of figures on the 'edge of thebase-platc.

If, now, the instrument he used for adding numbers, without reference to the board-counter, the iudexl would be brought to the character 0 in the outer line of figures, and thedial revolved to the position shown in fig.1. In the same figure the pointer is shown as opposite the {number- 10, in the outer line of figures, and the stud a is entered in the hole It in the dial be nenth. I r

.If the pointer be now brought around to 0, the dial will be brought around with it. If thepointcr be again swung back to 40, and then brought back to 0 with the dial, and thisoperation be a thild tune repeated, three forties will have been added together, and the sum total of one hundred and twenty will be indicated, as

follows: The index I will have moved, past the figure linthevonter line'of figures, showing an amomit of over one hundred, and the excess over one hundred will be shown by those figures on the dial which found. to be opposite 100 on the edge, which figures,

in this case, will be 20,:thus making the total amount to be. .one huudred and twenty.

A circular opening, J, is made near the end of the pointer, through wlnchthe tens and units figures-of the sum-total cau'be-seen, whilethe hundmls will always he found at the end of the index I, inthe outer line .of figuies.- j I 1 -When, therefore, the instrument is adjusted, the

operator has only to carry finward the pointer, in 'the' direction 'ofthe hands of a watch,.until the end p points to the number which is to be added in to the amount. The chisticity'of the steel pointer then acts as a spring, to folce the stud s into the proper hole in the dial beneath, and the din-land pointer are revolved back to '0, and a like'operation is'repeated with each number, as fast as the'sevem-l numbers to-he added are called-v voff.

To prevent the dial from moving ina retrograde direction, a small'deteut, 1), works through an opening in the bot-torn of the base-plate, into the holes in the dial, being held to place by It spring, (I. The end of this.detent is bevelled, so as to adinitoi' turning tindial forward, but not in the opposite direction,

I will now proceed to describe the lmard-countcr, which makes a part of the machine shown.

Upon the top of the washer E is placed the base, F, of the board-counter, which fits upon the arbor (l, and is prevented from turning around it by the feather j, which enters a groove in the arbor.

A thin washer is interposed between E and the lower face of F, and a notch is out in the edge of F at F, to

allow pawl attached to the pointer to come in contact with the teeth of the gmxl-uatedwheels H H. A shoulder is carried up from the face of the base F, around which the annular graduated disk H is fitte and left to revolve freely.

In a channel cut in .the outer edge of H, a. second graduated annular disk, H,.revolves.'

A cap, a, screwed to the upper face of F, holds the two disks in place.

, A small slot, iscnt into the edge of tliiscap, to

form an opening, through which the indicated numbers can be seen on the two disks.

Thirty teeth are out in the edge of each disk, but in the-edge of. Hone toctliis out much deeper than the rest,

. To revolve these disks, a pawl, It, is pivoted to the under side of the pointer, and the endis-forced inward and againstthe edgeof F bythe curved spring i.

.Whenever thepawl reaches t e notch F,'it will engage with the teeth in the disk and the notch isloug enough to allow this pawl to carry the disk forward the length ofone' tooth. v

The pawl will then strike the end of the notch, and,

the pointer can be moved no further in that direction; The notch, therefore, acts as a stop, to prevent the pointer from being moved beyond the character 0.

-It will be seen that the pawl-will revolve the disk H every time it is brought around to the 0 place, but will not reach the teeth of H, except when the deep tooth upon H comes round to the notch, which, of course, will be at every thirtieth move of the pawl.

The graduation upon the disk H is from 0 to 29 inclusive, and upon the outer disk from 30 m 900, in an arithmetical progression of which the common difference is 30.

forward, so as to throw the pawl out of the notch F,

and then the disks are set inthe position shown in the v drawing, the numbers 29 and 870 showing through the slot 0. If, now, the pointer be brought back to 0, the disks will be moved forward so .as to bring into view the neict figures, (0 and 900,) and the board-counter is theniea dy to register the number of additions, or the number of .boards called oil. .The figures 900- are not regarded, but with each move of the pointer back to 0 (with each addition) the inner disk will be moved forward one place, up to the thirtieth move, when the outer disk will also be moved one place, and the disks will then show the figures 0 and 30 through theslot, indicating that thirty boards have been counted. -At

the next move of the pointer, the figures 1 and-30 will appear, showing that thhtymne boards have been reck-v oned, and so on, the inner disk moving one place at every addition, while the outer one counts by thirties,

and the figures on the two disks are to bc added to- .gether to indicate the whole number of boards counted,

or the number of additions made.

The rate of counting by thirties is auarbitrary late, and, by varying the conformation of the disks, might be changed to any othe'r desired standard. 'lhe board-counter does not difier materially in operation from that described in certain Letters Patent granted to myself and J. A. Loomis, on the 28th day of January, 1868, for a mtlculat-ing inachine, except in the removal of the case mentioned therein for containing the disks, and the use, instead thereof, of a simple notched base-plate, F; but the operation and'prinoiple of the adding-machine proper, as herein set forth, are entirely different from the construction and opemtion of that described in said Letters Patent, and are entirely accurate and reliable in piactical use.

Having described my invention,

What I claim as new therein, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The combination and arrangement of the recessed base-plate A, revolving dial-plate B, perforated at Ii. 71, and both gmduated as described, differential gears, in dex I, and pointer P, thewhole construe-ted and operating substantially as described.

4 In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, this 13th day of May, A. 'D. 1868.

ALONZO JOHNSON.

Witnesses:

J. P. BUcKL'AnD, E. J. SOMMER. 

